Hunton & Williams

Hunton & Williams is an international law firm with 19 offices "throughout the US, Europe and Asia," according to its website.

"The firm garnered attention" in 2007, "when its lawyers argued that the Clean Air Act does not give EPA the right to regulate carbon dioxide in the controversial Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA," noted Greenwire.

Chamber of Commerce spying proposal
Hunton & Williams received a proposal from three data security contractors for U.S. federal defense and intelligence agencies to monitor and manipulate the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's left-leaning critics, according to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained e-mail correspondence pertaining to the case. Employees of the data security contractors presented Hunton and Williams with short dossiers on a few anti-Chamber activists that included photographs, references to their families and charts of their relationships with other liberal and labor leaders. Hunton and Williams is the law firm that represents the Chamber. Hunton also represents Bank of America, and solicited a separate proposal from the same security firms to help the bank deal with a threat by WikiLeaks, to release sensitive information. The Chamber denied paying the contractors for the information, and Hunton refused to comment. Another target revealed in the emails was the Service Employees International Union.

Anti-environmental lobbying
"In Massachusetts v. EPA, Hunton argued that Congress did not intend to give the EPA powers to regulate carbon dioxide when it wrote the Clean Air Act," reported The Hill. While the Supreme Court disagreed, "by the time the court announced its ruling, the firm had built up a team of energy lobbyists who could field questions from clients and congressional staff about the decision’s implications -- and work to minimize the potential damage to their clients through legislation."

In its other lobbying work, "Hunton lawyers argued on behalf of Conoco [in 2006] that the company should be eligible for a $1-a-gallon tax credit for producing renewable diesel by adding animal fats to its traditional refining process. The IRS agreed. The firm's lobbyists are now working to protect that credit against efforts in Congress to limit its application to biodiesel plants, which use a different process."

The firm has also represented the West Virginia Coal Association in its fight to continue mountaintop removal mining, Georgia Power in its effort to fend off a race discrimination suit brought by former employees, and the Tennessee Valley Authority in its battle to avoid installing pollution controls at its coal-fired power plants.

Hunton & William is also a major lobbying force, with lobbying income of more than $2.8 million in 2010. Among its biggest lobbying clients are energy firms: Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU Corp.), Southern Company, Gas Processors Association, FirstEnergy, and Koch Industries. Also among the firm's lobbying clients are Duke Energy and Progress Energy, and Americans for Affordable Climate Policy, a front group formed by Duke Energy and other coal utilities.

Water Policy Institute
In June 2008, Hunton & Williams established the Water Policy Institute (WPI), a think tank "bringing together industry leaders ... to address water supply, quality and use issues."

WPI is chaired by former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief turned PR consultant Christine Todd Whitman, with Hunton & Williams partner Kathy Robb as its director. Its founding corporate members included BP, Central Arizona Project and GE Water.

"Climate change is likely to be a major topic" of the Water Policy Institute, according to a profile in the Clean Water Report. "Other topics will include the intersection of water quality and quantity; desalination; new technology; agriculture; allocation of water; and infrastructure."

Tobacco ties
Hunton & Williams was counsel for Philip Morris. (PMI's Introduction to Privilege Log and Glossary of Names, Estate of Burl Butler v. PMI, et al, April 19, 1996). They are a law firm in Richmond, Virginia (USA) and were a major law firm used by Philip Morris Cos. Inc., circa 1993.(NJL 5/9/94) Attorneys T. Justin Moore III, Robert E.R. Huntley, were on the board of directors of Philip Morris Cos. Inc., circa 1993.(NJL 5/9/94)

Linked to Search for Common Ground.

HBGary, Bank of America, and the Chamber of Commerce controversy
In 2010, Aaron Barr, CEO of the technology security company HBGary Federal, alleged that he could exploit social media to gather information about hackers like those who supported WikiLeaks. In early 2011, Barr claimed to have used his techniques to infiltrate the Wikileaks supporter Anonymous, partly by using IRC, Facebook, Twitter, and social networking sites. His e-mails depict his intention to release information on the identities of Anonymous members and to sell it to possible clients. In early February of 2011, the activist group Anonymous hacked the firm's website, copied tens of thousands of documents from HBGary, posted tens of thousands of company emails online, and usurped Barr's Twitter account.

Some of the documents taken by Anonymous show HBGary Federal was working on behalf of Bank of America to respond to Wikileaks' planned release of the bank's internal documents. The plan included "disrupting" reporter Glenn Greenwald in his support of Wikileaks. Emails detail a supposed business proposal by HBGary to assist Bank of America's law firm, Hunton & Williams, in a "dirty tricks campaign" that included proposals to fabricate "false documents" : "Potential proactive tactics against WikiLeaks include feeding the fuel between the feuding groups, disinformation, creating messages around actions to sabotage or discredit the opposing organization, and submitting fake documents to WikiLeaks and then calling out the error."

According to other e-mails, the Chamber of Commerce hired the lobbying firm Hunton & Williams, and attorneys for the law firm then solicited a set of private security firms — HB Gary Federal, Palantir, and Berico Technologies (collectively called Team Themis) — to develop a sabotage campaign against progressive groups and labor unions, including the group ThinkProgress, the labor coalition Change to Win, the labor union SEIU, U.S. Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com. Later emails revealed that the private spy company investigated the families and children of the Chamber’s political opponents. The apparent spearhead of this project was Aaron Barr, who circulated numerous emails and documents detailing information about political opponents’ children, spouses, and personal lives.

Lobbying clients
The firm's lobbying practice brought in $5,260,000 in 2007 and $2,365,000 in the first three quarters of 2008, according to the Lobbyists.info database. Lobbying clients, as of February 2009, include:
 * Acxiom Corporation
 * Advanced Security Systems
 * American Electric Power Company
 * American Peanut Shellers Association
 * Americans for Affordable Climate Policy
 * Blank Rome LLP/Blank Rome Government Relations, LLC
 * Cleco Corporation
 * Community Power Alliance
 * ConocoPhillips
 * CSX Corporation
 * DTE Energy (terminated October 2008)
 * Duke Energy
 * Edison Electric Institute
 * Electric Reliability Coordinating Council
 * Energy Future Holdings Corporation
 * Entergy Corporation
 * FirstEnergy Corporation
 * Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited
 * The Foundation for Environmental and Economic Progress
 * Gas Processors Association
 * Headwaters, Inc. (terminated October 2008)
 * Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1
 * Koch Industries, Inc.
 * Lake Michigan Car Ferry Service
 * Marathon Oil Corporation
 * National Association of Manufacturers
 * National Association of Mortgage Brokers
 * National Crop Insurance Services
 * NewMarket Corporation
 * PEPCO Holdings, Inc.
 * Progress Energy
 * Soap and Detergent Association
 * Societe Interoleagineuse D'Assistance et de Development - SIA
 * Southern Company
 * Texas Association of Mortgage Brokers
 * TXU Business Services Company
 * United States Sugar Corporation
 * Virginia Beach Municipal Center, Office of City Attorney
 * Waters Advocacy Coalition
 * WEST Associates
 * Xcel Energy, Inc.

Other 2008 lobbying clients listed in the OpenSecrets.org database are:
 * Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition
 * Agricultural Internationall Insurance Research Svc
 * Centerline Holding Company
 * General Electric
 * Koch Mineral Services
 * Magellan Resources Group
 * MMA Financial
 * National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association
 * PPL Electric Utilities
 * Sempra Energy
 * Starwood Energy Group Global

Clients
The firm's website says its clients range "from start-up companies to multinational corporations. We serve clients in virtually every industry throughout the world." A "representative" list of Hunton & Williams clients includes:
 * Altria
 * Bank of America
 * BellSouth
 * Cingular
 * Diageo
 * DTE Energy
 * General Dynamics
 * MasterCard
 * Pfizer
 * PM USA
 * Smithfield Foods
 * SunTrust
 * TXU Corp.
 * US Energy
 * Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG)
 * Wells Fargo

Contact details
Hunton & Williams LLP 1900 K Street NW Washington, DC 20006

Phone: 202-955-1500 Fax: 202-778-2201 Web: http://www.hunton.com/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Campaign for Fighting Diseases
 * Kathy Robb
 * Luis Lauredo
 * Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency
 * Water Policy Institute
 * Waters Advocacy Coalition

External articles

 * Alex B. Atuhaire, "Kutesa's Daughter Linked to 1.2b Deal", The Monitor (Kampala), May 26, 2005.
 * Alex B. Atuhaire, "London Firm Speaks Out On Kutesa's Daughter", The Monitor (Kampala), May 27, 2005.
 * Alfred Wasike, "Rukutana, Lawyers Explain UK Deal", The Monitor(Kampala), May 27, 2005.
 * Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, "Litigator to jump from Akin Gump to Hunton & Williams," Texas Lawyer blog, February 12, 2009.
 * Francesca Heintz, "THE AM LAW 100: Hunton & Williams Revenue Up, Profits Down," The AM Law Daily, April 6, 2009.
 * Francesca Heintz, "Hunton & Williams Cuts 23 Attorneys, 64 Staff Members," The AM Law Daily, May 14, 2009.

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